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“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”  Romans 6:12

I didn’t think I’d ever used so much Lysol and disinfectant.  When my husband tested positive for covid right before Christmas, I became the germ police going behind everything he touched and wiping it down.  Hand towels were tucked away and paper towels were on the counter.  My hands were raw from all the wiping down, and the smell of Lysol was starting to get to my sinuses.  Never realized how many things we touch in a 24 hour period…..so much more than I could keep up with. And of course all my germ police work was in vain…I still got sick.

Unfortunately germs aren’t the only thing that spread.  Don’t know if you’ve ever found yourself in this place, but entertaining sin is just too close.  One of our greatest deceptions is often found in our perceived self-resilience to not sin.  You got it friend – we simply think “we’d never do ___________.”

How does this entertaining happen?  Quite gradually.  We surround our inner circle with those who either don’t believe in God or have a loose view of sin.  We make little compromises because no one is looking right?  We allow our gaze to desire what we know we shouldn’t have (we retain 80% of what we see).  Longings focused in the wrong direction eventually lead us down the same wrong path. Zeroing in on our world versus having an eternal perspective shifts our feet from a firm foundation to shaky territory.

Not exactly where we want land is it?

Most believers probably don’t sit down and strategize how their going to sin.  Quite the opposite, we often think we are stronger, more resilient than the sin we entertain.  We all have our weaknesses – sins that so easily weigh us down, sins we cling to so closely, and temptations we have an ongoing battle against.

If we really want to glorify God with our lives then we must build a strong defense against the sins which seek to devour us.  We must guard our inner circle by cultivating godly friendships.    We must be diligent in not getting absorbed into the influences around us.  Our 24/7 is full of visual stimuli aimed at drawing us further and further away from God.  The enemy works overtime to kill, steal and destroy the testimony of those who proclaim Jesus as Savior (John 10:10)

Sweet friend, Satan never has the final say.  As believers, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to resist and defeat our enemy (James 4:7).  Simple truth here, we can’t lower our guard for even a second.   Diligence and awareness is crucial.  Ephesians 6:10:10 reminds us that our strength is in the Lord.  By activating the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-18), we will be able to stand against and defeat Satan. Now that’s a battle plan guaranteed to extinguish the overwhelming spread of sin in our lives.

“Father, thank You for equipping us and giving us the perfect battle plan against the enemy – Your word + prayer = victory!”

For His Glory

Janet Martin
TRBC Women’s Life